The new Yuma squadron has long been in the works. Lt. Col. Jeff Scott, commanding officer of VMFA-121, was selected for the job two years ago. The Harrier pilot and two-time Iraq combat veteran finished his F-35 conversion training at Eglin last week.

“It’s an amazing airplane, it flies extremely well. It is not just the next step in aircraft, it is five or six steps beyond what we currently have. It is growing into those capabilities in terms of the software and (flight) testing,” Scott said, but compared with the Corps’ current vertical landing jet — the Harrier introduced in the ’80s — it is faster, more stable, more maneuverable and easier to fly because of computerized flight controls.

“The integrated sensors of the aircraft are extremely impressive. The computer does a lot of the work. The computer sorts out a lot of things and gives the pilots a lot of information,” Scott said.

The squadron has about half of the 300 personnel it needs and four pilots qualified to fly the 16 jets that will eventually be assigned to the unit. It is also the first to have its own maintenance crews currently training to service the aircraft, instead of relying on Lockheed contractors.

The squadron hopes to be cleared by the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the Commander of Naval Air Forces to fly around Yuma by late December or early January, pending inspection of its maintenance and other processes.

Tactical training may begin within a year after 10 to 12 pilots are qualified to fly. But the squadron won’t be able to deploy until it has jets with block 2B software revisions, which Lockheed said it expects to deliver in mid-2015.

Currently only F-35 test pilots are allowed to operate the F-35B’s signature feature in flight — its ability to land vertically. That should change for the Yuma pilots within a year, said Maj. Aric Liberman, a former Navy SEAL turned Hornet pilot who will be the aviation maintenance officer for VMFA-121.

Liberman has been stationed at Eglin for more than three years, training on the F-35 mostly on simulators. He took his first flight in the new jet in August.

After powering up and rolling down the runway, his 40-minute midmorning cruise over the Gulf of Mexico was “business as usual,” he recalled. “It was the most exciting nonevent I’ve ever done in my life, because the jet is so easy to fly and because I had so much preparation.”

Flying the F-35 that first time was similar to flying a Hornet, except for the helmet-mounted display, touch-screen controls on the glass cockpit, and the added thrill that “it’s a new aircraft and you’re on the edge of Marine Corps aviation.”

It seemed like a slow start getting the program off the ground. Now the squadron will have a lot of work and learning to do in coming years to help the Marine Corps integrate the F-35 into its operations, Liberman said.

“We’ve really gained a lot of momentum,” he said. “I am excited to make that transition. That is what we are here to do — to learn how to employ the aircraft as a weapon system.”